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Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Mexican Style Rice, Achiote Tempeh 'Steaks' and Guacamole

I made this Mexican Style Rice, Achiote Tempeh 'Steaks' and Guacamole some time last week. What day it exactly was I cannot remember, but I know it was warm and I thought, this was a good dish to enjoy eating out in the garden.

I had been given some Recado Rojo aka Achiote (Annato) Paste a long while back by a fellow blogger. And it is her recipe suggestion that I have followed for the marinade, she called it Pibil.

There was something Tandoori paste like about the achiote paste, but it was not as highly seasoned, spiced or particularly fragrant. It did however impart a fantastic muddy red saffron colouring to the tempeh. I have used annatto seeds in the past, mostly for the vegan chorizo sausages that require annatto infused oil, of course I made my own Annatto infused oil (and in the future I will have a go at making my own Achiote Paste too).

Tempeh has always been a bit of a hit and miss with me, but I have to admit, I had not had this brand of tempeh before and if was soft and moist, whereas tempeh that i have had in the past have been quite firm and the soy beans texture was too prominent. Okay, I don't have a recipe as such for this Mexican plate, but here is what I did. For the Achiote Tempeh had been marinating overnight in the sauce: 25g of the 100g packet of achiote with 100ml orange juice, a couple of cloves of garlic, minced and a dash of lime. Combine well, then coat the sliced tempeh slices on both side and leave to marinade. The following day, I baked them in the oven, flipping it over halfway so both sides were cooked for 20 - 25 minute.I cooked plain white Basmati rice in advance and allowed it to cool down. Heat a little oil in a pan, then saute an onion that has been sliced and a couple of garlic cloves that have been crushed until soft. I then stirred in some cooked black beans (left over from a previous dish), sweetcorn from a can, minced jalapenos from a jar and a pinch of red chilli flakes and lots, and I mean lots of fresh coriander until it began to smell all wonderfully fragrant, finally I stirred in the cooked rice.

Served with home-made guacamole and optional soured cream. It was quite good, delicious in fact. I had some Mexican style rice left over, so took it into work for lunch the following day. It worked well cold (room temperature) too. I am sharing this with Jac over at Tinned Tomatoes for Meat Free Mondays; and also to No Croutons Required hosted this month by Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen,